A tall, slender man in his early 30s walked into the Twins clubhouse after a game last weekend at Target Field. Under his right arm, he carried a thick stack of black three-ring binders filled with statistical printouts and typed scouting reports.

His face bore a friendly-but-serious mien, and he walked with a purposeful stride.

Jeremy Hefner had more work to do, more baseball clues to unearth.

Minnesota Twins

Twins director of video scouting Jeremy Hefner.

Newly retired after a decade in pro ball as a right-handed pitcher, including parts of two seasons in the majors (2012-13) as a swingman with the New York Mets, Hefner is already making a daily impact on his new organization as the lead video advance scout.

To hear him tell it, he’s learning as much in his new role as the hitters and pitchers for whom he provides key details and suggestions heading into each series.

“I’m still drinking through a fire hose,” the soft-spoken Oklahoman says. “I feel like I’m learning something new every day: how different guys learn, what types of information different guys want, trying to be as customized as possible.”

Considering the first-place Twins are off to a 25-18 start and one of the majors’ biggest early-season surprises, the arrangement seems to be working. The fact that Hefner, 31, was pitching at Triple-A Memphis in the St. Louis Cardinals organization through last season also helps in his quest to take complex data and present it to the Twins in a usable format.

“The more knowledge of the game you have, the better, so playing obviously helps a lot,” Twins reliever Tyler Duffey says. “He’s streamlined for us information that we’ve had in the past. He’s making it a lot more visible and compressing it to where you’re not thinking about a guy’s whole career in an at-bat. You’re going, ‘OK, this works. This doesn’t work. Do this.’ I think it’s been really useful.”

THINKING THE GAME

Hefner is making the most of his second career. Having overcome a pair of Tommy John surgeries, he wanted to keep pitching until he realized his shoulder had been torn to shreds. A partially torn labrum and a torn rotator cuff basically sent him into retirement the last time he tried throwing in January.

Ready to finally spend time with Sarah, his wife of eight years, and their three young children (ages 7, 4 and 2), Hefner wasn’t looking for a new job when Twins major league coach Jeff Pickler called on the eve of spring training. In calling around for possible leads, Pickler had spoken with former Oral Roberts coach Rob Walton, now pitching coach at Oklahoma State, who suggested one of his headier former Golden Eagles might be interested.Hefner flew from his home in Tulsa to Fort Myers, Fla., to meet with Twins officials and the big-league coaching staff and instantly realized this was something he wanted to try.

“I love the game. I love players,” Hefner says. “I love thinking the game and talking about the game and finding ways to win baseball games. I tried to do that when I was playing, but now that I can’t play anymore, this is as close as I can get.”

In addition to the heat maps that had been loaded onto players’ iPads the past few seasons, Hefner offers his own ideas for pitch sequencing and specific pitches that might work in specific counts. For Twins hitters, he explains how he would attack them with a similar arsenal to what they’ll be facing that night, both for the opposing starter and the full seven-or eight-man bullpen.

Hefner, well aware of the dangers of information overload, seems to have a gift for distilling the densest of data and highlighting the parts that can help turn a game in the Twins’ favor.

“Understanding what you’re looking at, I think that’s a big thing with stats,” Duffey says. “You can look at them all day, but until you really know what you’re looking at and can break it down, that’s when it starts to apply to you.”

ACTIONABLE INFO

Having pitched in three analytically savvy organizations — Mets, Cardinals and San Diego Padres — Hefner had already seen the benefits of video and statistical preparation. What the Twins are doing, he says, is well beyond what he experienced as an active pitcher.

“Much more advanced,” he says. “From what I received, it’s much more in-depth, but it’s also simple too. It’s very usable, actionable stuff. It’s not just a bunch of numbers thrown at the players’ faces. There are some real tangible things that the guys can take onto the field.”

From his in-game post in the Twins clubhouse, Hefner typically works ahead on the upcoming series, but he’s also available for quick chats with players seeking feedback or reminders. More typically, there will be a conversation the following day to review how Hefner’s suggestions may have played out on the field.

“Even when you win, the game’s too fresh,” he says. “Sometimes you need a day to think about it and go back through in your mind the process of it all. Was the process right or was the process wrong?”

Starting with himself, Hefner is a key cog in an ongoing dialogue that stresses accountability, flexibility and constant improvement.

“Even when we win, did we take the best route possible to get to the best outcome?” he says. “Or did we have a bad process and even though we had a good result should we do something to tinker with the process? It’s always about finding the edge, finding the next thing that can help us win a ballgame. If I make a mistake, I own it and we move forward.”

You might think of Hefner as a conduit for information, linking the front office to the coaching staff and then helping translate the most vital parts of those messages for the players. Rookie reliever Justin Haley, a Rule 5 pick from the Boston Red Sox this winter, appreciates the help.

“Jeremy is awesome,” Haley says. “He sends ideas to us over the app we have, and he’s available for us to go to him with any questions. We have an iPad out there in the bullpen, and a couple different printouts. It’s just another facet of the game that we can get better at and use to put ourselves in the best situation to be successful.”

The fact Hefner was able to hang around as long as he did with an 89-91 mph fastball seems to have smoothed the transition and helped a Twins staff that largely lacks swing-and-miss weapons.

“Location is always paramount,” Hefner says. “Ultimately, this thing is about execution. That’s why this stuff speaks to me so well because I had to execute to be successful. If I was still playing and I had this information, it would free me up to not try to be nasty and just go execute.”

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